Trials and Tribulations
by Venaris
Summary: Sometimes it takes Hardship to see what was there the whole time.
1. The Incident

**And i finally got another one up. Though i'm not sure how well it turned out, so please review and let me know what you think. **

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><p>In his two years as a jounin, Yuuto hadn't yet been on an A ranked mission. So when he was standing in the Hokage building he wasn't expecting any of what was to come.<p>

It seemed pretty straight forward, he was to act as medical ninja on the team with Genma as the team leader and two chuunin headed to investigate disappearances in a mountain pass used by trade caravans to get into the land of wind. It was about a three day trip on foot to the location.

As they approached the opening to the pass, Yuuto asked Genma "What exactly was in the report for our mission?"

Genma turned and replied "Not much. Just that several trade caravans on their way to the sand village never arrived. We're supposed to meet with some Sand ninja who are also looking into this."

They continued through the pass and Yuuto started to get a feeling of foreboding. As they proceeded they noticed broken and burnt pieces of supply carts indicating explosions. It was then when he saw the Sand ninja, laying around the ground with severe burns on their faces.

He rushed to them and immediately started healing them as Genma and the rest of the team went to defensive positions. Yuuto tried to get information from the fallen ninja "What happened here?"

One of the ninja groaned and spoke through the pain "Ambush... spiders... white bombs..." The ninja passed out as Yuuto tried to understand what that meant. He searched the area and found bits of clay around and on the Sand ninja.

He looked at Genma "It looks like some kind of explosive was attached to their faces."

Genma looked back with a bit of concern "Get them stable and be ready to get a barrier up. There's no telling when or if we might get attacked."

Yuuto scanned the walls of the narrow pass as he finished up with healing, a small movement caught his eye. He blinked in disbelief, as objects crawled out of cracks in the wall. He opened his eyes wide as he realized that they were white spiders, same color as the clay around the Sand ninja. Quickly he formed the Tiger hand sign shoving a chakra barrier around the team as the spiders jumped and exploded against it. "Stay in the barrier!" he yelled at Genma and the two chuunin.

He scanned the walls for the attacker as the barrier kept getting bombarded by explosions when he heard a crack and looked down to see the ground under one of the chuunin break open and a giant white centipede came up. It wrapped around him, pulling him under before exploding the chuunin into small chunks and spraying bits of rock up at Yuuto and the remaining team members.

Yuuto was frozen in place from what happened, if not for Genma's quick thinking, he would have stayed that way. "Yuuto! We have to get out of this narrow area! Keep the barrier up as we get out of here!" And Yuuto forced himself up and followed Genma with the remaining chuunin in tow.

They all reached the open area where the pass started parting and looking back into the narrow path. "What was that?" asked Yuuto as the one chuunin left vomited from fear.

Genma caught his breath and started to answer "I don't know. but we should go back and-"  
>Without warning three white objects leaped out of where they came and blew the chuunin in half spraying blood all over Yuuto's robes. It was then that the enemy appeared.<p>

From what Yuuto could tell it was two squads of Rock ninja, but what made his stomach twist was the guy with long yellow hair and the sick smile on his face who started speaking. "How do you like that art, huh, Leaf ninja?"

One of the Rock Chunin turned and spoke to the yellow haired guy. "Would you please shut up about your..." The yellow-haired guy yelled interrupting the chuunin, "How many times have I told you to not talk when I'm having fun!" then tossed one of the spiders on his face and detonated it with a half tiger seal, sending the victim falling backwards and screaming before passing out from the burns.

Yuuto stared frozen with fear and confusion as one of the Rock jounin swore. "Damn. This happens every time. Let's just kill them and get this over with."

Genma hurled a kunai in the middle of them that had a paper bomb on it making them scatter and shaking Yuuto into action. As Genma clashed with one of the jounin, the other full squad attacked Yuuto. He blocked the shuriken being thrown, and the other jounin closed the distance between them and started pounding into him with taijutsu.

In desperation, Yuuto activated one of his chakra scalpels and thrust out slicing the attacker's arms off at the shoulder sending him falling back. Another volley of shuriken came at him to be blocked by his chakra then he quickly did a wind style Gale wind palm, blowing the chunin back into the rocks.

Then he looked up to see the yellow-haired man molding clay into another bomb, and Yuuto pooled chakra into his hands, forming two windmill shuriken, and hurled both to pin the bomb user against the rock wall. He turned only to feel two long blades slice their way into his chest before everything went black.


	2. The Aftermath

Yuuto woke to find that he was in bed. He looked around somewhat dazed to scan his surroundings, as he became more lucid he did an inventory of the room in his head. '_Full bookshelf with plants on it. More sitting by the window in the sun. Picture of... oh... i'm in my house_' He smiled softly at the picture then turned to see the actual person who was in the picture.

Kisara sat in a chair to the left side of his bed, making Yuuto smile until he saw the look on her face. Her fingers were knotted together and sitting in her lap, and her usually well-cared for black hair hung limply. "You're awake." She said with no true inflection to her voice.

Yuuto looked at her with confusion and concern as he tried to get a grasp on what could have happened. "Yeah, all i can remember is..." He started to say as his head ached from trying to remember.

She looked up at him, and her eyes were unusually steely. "You were in a confrontation with Iwa, and only you and Genma-san made it out alive."

He held his head as it throbbed with pain. "I remember we were ambushed... and I blacked out after..." A sharp pain ran through his head as he saw a glimpse of the enemy that had wiped out his team. "what happened? I must have gotten stabbed... i remember the pain" He grasped at his chest in panic to find no wounds or bandages. "I don't understand..."

"You were fighting on instinct." Kisara said, with a hint of something raw creeping into her tone. "You used your chakra to heal yourself and shred your enemies until you had none left." She turned her head away from him, the lank strands of hair concealing the expression she wanted to hide. "You almost killed yourself."

Yuuto looked at her and swallowed, totally forgetting the pain in his head and focusing on her. "I... I really did that?"

She looked back at him, and the beginnings of tears were filling her eyes. "YES! You IDIOT!"

He flinched at her raising her voice, then started to reach over to wipe her tears away but stopped then bowed his head. "Kisara... I'm sorry I made you worry..."

She caught his hand. "Don't do it again!" She cried, and the first of tears welled over and fell onto her lap.

His voice was caught in his throat as he struggled to say something to comfort her. He could think of nothing to say, but he kept feeling the need to touch her face. His face twisted in frustration as he touched her cheek. "Kisara..."

She pressed his hand to her cheek. "Promise me. Promise me you will never die."

Warmth started to spread through him guiding him as he slid his hand under Kisara's chin, lifting it to look in her eyes as he forced a smile. "I promise"

A trembling smile set on her lips, and it almost fell away entirely when she opened her mouth to speak again. "Can...Can I lie down next to you? I haven't slept since they brought you back.

Slightly surprised at her question as his face got heated he looked her over and thought why am I feeling this way all of sudden... He scooted over to make room on the small bed. "Of...of course you can."

She smiled a little wider, and climbed in next to him. "You'll be here when I wake up, right?" She asked with a childlike innocence entering her tone.

He smiled back with his face slightly flushed as the new feeling filled his voice "I'll be here. I would never leave you"

Kisara smiled, and then her breath slowly evened out as she fell asleep.

Yuuto lay there and quietly watched her sleep as the new feeling spread through him and grew as he kept watching her. As she slept he thought '_I've never realized it before... but she's beautiful... I could watch her sleep forever.'_ He swallowed and gently moved closer to her, his face getting redder as he looked at her face. Gently as to not wake her he slid his hands under hers and curled his fingers around them as the new love for her touched his eyes. Then after fighting against sleep for quite some time he slipped into unconsciousness.

Kisara fell from sleep gracelessly, her face scrunching up against the light that shone onto her eyelids.

Yuuto closed his hands around hers as she stirred. Softly mumbling in his sleep "Kisara..."

She blinked her eyes open. "Aniki?" She asked the boy lying next to her. "Are you awake?"

A smile spread across his face but he didn't wake.

She smirked down at him. "You are awake."

He rolled over onto her and mumbled her name again.

She squeaked in surprise, and pushed him off of her. "Aniki!" She called with a laugh. "Wake up already!"

He jolted awake and looked at her with one eye "Mmm... you know I don't like to be woken up..."

She grinned at him impishly. "I know. That's why I did it."

He sat up and stretched and yawned then softly smiled "You couldn't just let me sleep one time Imoto-chan?" As soon as he finished his sentence he felt odd about it for some reason but waved it off.

She giggled and bounced out of the bed. "Nope!"

It was when he swung his legs over the edge of his bed that everything that happened rushed to the front of his mind. He could see it so clear, the blood and screams of fear of the enemies he killed without thought. Then he looked at Kisara with a solemn expression, remembering their conversation before falling asleep. "Kisara."

The smile abruptly dropped from her face. "What is it aniki?

He looked at her with a fire in his eyes and spoke with determination "I promise you that I ll get stronger so that you'll never lose me."

A smile curled her lips up again, one that instead of bouncy, contained a more powerful happiness. "I promise the same."

"Of course we'll help each other with training." He smirked as he continued "I mean come on, who else works better with you than me?"

She giggled, and picked up something from the table in the corner. "No one." She pointed a fan at him, folded up so he couldn't see the color of the silk. "And I have a new weapon to learn."

Curious, he looked at the fan she held. "That?"

Kisara grinned with a devilish edge to it, and lifted it in front of her face, unfolding it to reveal crimson silk with the kanji for illusion written on it in black. "One should never trust a beautiful girl."

"Damn!" he cursed and looked down expecting a genjutsu.

She laughed, and walked over. "It's not a genjutsu, silly. Do you have a spare kunai?"

He reached into his robes searching. "All I have right now is a special chakra one" He pulled out the kunai and handed it to her.

She took it in her left hand and held the fan in her right. "Sorry, you're going to have to replace it." She said, and sliced the tip of the fan down the length of the kunai. It split straight down the middle.

He clambered and grabbed the halves of the kunai. "Ahh! You should have told me you were going to destroy it! That cost 500 ryo."

He Groaned. "It was made of a special chakra metal... it reacts to the user's chakra characteristics, that's why it cost so much... I was going to show you it..."

Kisara winced. "Sorry." Then she brightened again and brandished the fan "Regardless, you saw what my fan did to it, right?"

Yuuto looked back at the fan. "Yeah... what makes it so sharp?"

She closed it and cautiously placed the hilt of the fan in his hand. "There's obsidian in the blade tips. It can get much sharper than steel, but it's more fragile. That's why it still has the steel."

He carefully opened it and examined it. "I see. It s quite deadly. You just got this today?" he closed it then handed it back hilt first.

She shook her head and tucked it into the belt of her clothes. "I got it while you were on your mission. It's a shukusen- a lady's fan." She explained.

"That's convenient" he said as he rose to his feet. "I have a new technique I ve been wanting to test out. and your fan would be a perfect help."

She stood next to him, looking up. "What is it?"

"It's something i learned from researching Medical ninjutsu that utilizes seals" He said as he looked at her. "You've heard of the Sannin Tsunade yes?"

She nodded eagerly. "Uh-huh! She's amazing!"

Yuuto grinned at her euphoria. "Good. Well, I didn't find much on the topic but from what a few of the older medical ninja say she sealed a large amount of chakra away into a spot on her forehead that when released constantly regenerates wounds while in battle. It even heals organ damage."

Her eyes grew round. "Wow. And you want to try and do that too?"

"I kind of have already been working storing up the chakra" He said before turning and moving part of his robe that covers his neck to show the star shaped seal there.

She reached up and touched it cautiously "So you have a lot of chakra in here?"

He shivered slightly "Yeah, been storing it for a year now. not sure how long the regeneration would last if I released it at this point though. This is why i want to test it."

She removed her hands from the marking. "So you want me to hit you with my shukusen to see how long you can heal? Wouldn't that just be a waste of the stored chakra?"

"If i had only created one seal then yes, it would be a waste" He replied.

Kisara smirked. "Well I'm not going to hit you very hard. I would prefer that all of your limbs stayed attached."

Yuuto smiled wryly. "Well yeah... there's no telling how effective it will be... so causing very serious injury for the first test isn't a good idea."

Kisara giggled. "That's very true." Then she poked him in the stomach "But you haven't eaten since before you left. Food first!"

He smiled softly and stood up. "Alright, no point in arguing, you always win anyway."

She blinked in surprise. "That was fast."

"What? You expected me to refuse?" He chuckled and poked her forehead before walking out of the house. "Are you coming?"

Kisara ran to catch up. "Where are we going?"

He looked over his shoulder at her. "To eat of course, unless you changed your mind?"

She smacked him on the shoulder. "I meant where are we going to EAT?"

"My favorite spot owned by the Akimichi clan. I owe Choza a rematch at our eating contest." He smirked.

Kisara scowled. "You're going to get too fat to train at this rate."

He just smiled and looked at her as they walked. "No I won't. My metabolism is super high. And my training requires large quantities of food"

Kisara turned her nose up with all the annoyed dignity of a noblewoman. "Well if you eat even half of how much you ate last time, then you'll have to go on a whole four missions to burn it all off."

Yuuto just smiled brightly at her, his eyes lit up as he spoke. "I ever tell you how beautiful you are?"

She blinked at him in surprise for a moment, before smiling. "No, but it's nice to know."

He smiled and opened the door for her as they walked in to eat.

Kisara walked in, looked around and found a table that she liked. She proved it by hopping up to sit on it with a smirk. "Good afternoon Choza-san!" She called out to the owner.

Yuuto smiled at Kisara's antics as he walked to the table and looked at her. "You're silly as always."

She tossed him a carefree grin. "You expected something else?"

He grinned as Choza headed their way "Not really, but I had to ask."

She smirked at him, and then waved to the other ninja. "How's everything?" She asked him with her usual fount of energy.

Yuuto turned to Choza as he reached the table and greeted them warmly "Business is good. So, what can I get for one of my best customers?" Choza said looking at Yuuto. Yuuto raised and eyebrow and smirked "Come on now Choza. You didn't forget we have a score to settle did you?" He winked at Kisara across the table.

Kisara scowled and tossed her head disdainfully; leaving strands of black hair sliding back down her neck. "Not _this_ again you dingbats." She groaned. "Can't we go out without you two turning it into a pigfest?"

Yuuto glanced at her as he shoved a blush away from seeing her hair flail before replying "I've told you before, because of my training I need to eat a lot. All the calories burn off before the day is over."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

He just smiled softly and Turned to Choza "Actually, let's not do this today. Just an order of pork ribs for me. And... You want something Kisara?" He looked back across the table at her.

She swung her legs up onto the table. "Oh no, don't let me stop your testosterone competition. I need an excuse to tell you guys you're stupid."

Yuuto smirked and shrugged looking back at Choza "Just the order of pork ribs I guess." Choza raised an eyebrow and looked between the two of them with a hidden thought as he smiled and left. "Whatever you say Yuuto. I'll go get those ribs for ya."

Kisara pouted at Yuuto as Choza walked away, swinging her legs back and forth as she balanced on the edge of the table. "You're no fun."

Yuuto looked at her blankly "What? You were just complaining about us pigging out and now you're saying I'm no fun?"

She drew the fan from her belt and snapped it open. "Never trust a lady's words, just like her fan."

He smiled lightly as his stomach felt light and fluttery again. "I guess I have some learning to do."

She giggled and closed the fan. "Can we go get ice cream after you eat your four hundred pork ribs?"

He rolled his eyes and chuckled "It's not even close to that many. But yes, we can go get ice cream afterward" Then Yuuto turned as Choza set down the plates of raw ribs which Yuuto proceeded to place over the cooking rack where they sat.

Kisara flicked the fan shut, then open again. "Hey Choza. Like my new fan?"

Yuuto smiled as he watched the two of them talk.

Choza took a minute to answer "Umm... I suppose. I don't really know anything about fans"

Kisara flipped it over in her hand carefully and offered the end to him. "Want to take a closer look?" She offered the serious look on her face offset only by the mischievous twinkling in her eyes.

Yuuto smiled wryly as Choza took the fan by the end "Ehh... I'd be careful with that Choza..." He started to say.

Choza almost dropped it as she let go completely. "It s heavy." he said in surprise, handing it back to the chortling girl. "What's it made of?"  
>Kisara stuck it back in her belt, still giggling. "Steel with obsidion inside. It's my new weapon."<p>

Yuuto shook his head with amusement as he started turning the ribs over that were cooking then spoke up. "She's quite proud of it as you can see. At least all you had to deal with was how heavy it is. I've got to buy a new chakra blade now cause she didn't _bother_ to tell me she was going to slice it in half..." Choza chuckled and looked at them both "You know you two sure would be good together.

Kisara looked offended. "We would _not_" she said vehemently. "He's my brother. Why would I want to date my brother?"

Yuuto felt somewhat hurt and confused but agreed while matching Kisara's expression even if he didn't feel the same as she did. "Yeah, we're not like that." '_Well... maybe not yet..._' He added in his head.

Kisara smiled disarmingly at Choza. "Yuuto's too nice to be my boyfriend; I'd just stomp all over him."

'_I'm too nice? well that's great..._' Yuuto thought to himself as Choza laughed heartily "Yeah. You've got a point there." He said slapping Yuuto on the back making him force a smile at Choza.

Kisara flipped the fan from her belt and pointed the sharp end towards the far wall. "But if anyone ever, _ever_ tries to hurt my big brother, then I will kill them. And I won't make it gentle." With a sharp flick of her wrist, it was sent soaring end over end towards the far wall.

Yuuto vanished, using his chakra to dart across the room and appear just in time to grab the fan. Although unknown to anybody in the room it had stabbed into his hand. Quickly he removed it and healed the wound easily leaving no trace, it being a clean cut made it easy work. Then he walked back to the table and handed it back to Kisara, smiling at her with serious eyes "I appreciate that you love me so much, but damaging things isn't a good idea.

She took it back. "I know, I know." She said with the tone of someone heavily put upon, but there was a strong layer of affection there too.

He smiled at her as he sat and pulled one of the ribs off the rack and started eating.

Kisara turned about on the table with a friendly wave towards Choza, and delicately pulled off a rib, biting the meat off in dainty chunks.

Choza waved back as he went to help other customers

Yuuto smirked as he ate and watched Kisara with a soft new look in his eyes that he accepted. "So you were hungry?"

Kisara set aside the picked-clean rib and reached for another. "Wasn't I the one who suggested we go and eat anyway?"

"Well yeah. But I thought you were just suggesting it for my sake." Yuuto replied as he discarded his third piece of ribs.

Kisara swallowed her meat before answering. "I stayed with you the whole time before you woke up, and the hospital food just tastes _bad._"

Yuuto smiled wryly as he had another hunk of meat. "Yeah, it doesn't taste that good but it's got essential nutrients."

She set the second rib bone aside and licked the meat juices off of her fingers. "Just cause it's better than crap doesn't mean it's supposed to _taste_ like crap."

He lay down his last clean rib bone and raised his hands. "Okay. Okay. I'm not going to argue about this."

She laughed and grinned at him impishly. "See? You're learning."

He shook his head and smiled "Whatever. You almost done over there?"

She giggled and jumped off the table. "Already there aniki."

Yuuto smiled and got up reaching in his robes to grab the ryo to pay for the meal. Placing it on the table and yelling out; "Thanks a lot Choza" before walking out with Kisara.

She bounced alongside him as they left, her irrepressible energy keeping her practically on her toes.

He raised an eyebrow and smiled at her as they walked. "So what kind of ice cream are you going to get?"

Kisara pirouetted, sending her hair flying out like the wings of a crow. "Mint chocolate chip, of course! Since when do I get anything else?"

Yuuto's heart leaped in his chest seeing Kisara so happy. "I can always hope." He beamed at her.

She laughed at him. "The day that I eat a different kind of ice cream is the day that you actually try it."

He sighed as they neared the ice cream shop "You know i don't like mint. Why would i try something i know i don't like?" She appeared to take the matter into serious consideration. "Because it's a good complement to the chocolate." She said at last. "More flavorful than vanilla, but not overpowering. And it's green."

They reached the Ice cream shop as he replied. "I've had chocolate with mint in it. For me it _ruins_ the chocolate."

She pouted, but let it pass. "Do you want me to pay for it, since you bought the meat?"

He rubbed his chin thinking about it. "How about this? If I pay for it, you pay to replace my chakra blade you sliced up."

Kisara nodded. "Deal."

Yuuto smiled and turned to the shop keeper "Alright. I'll have a cone of chocolate swirl and a cone of mint chocolate chip my sister" He grimaced in his head at how wrong it felt it call her his sister with how he felt now.

Kisara smiled at him as the worker turned around and began to scoop up the ice cream. "Thank you aniki."

"You're welcome" Yuuto said smiling as the shop keeper handed them their ice cream cones.

Kisara licked at her cone happily, catching each drop of slowly melting ice cream with her tongue as they walked along the roads aimlessly.

Yuuto ate his up in about six bites.

Kisara looked at him in surprise. "You ate that fast." She observed, licking up another drop of ice cream that valiantly tried to escape.

"Well yeah." Yuuto replied with a smile. "I'm constantly pouring chakra into my seals so i pretty much am hungry all the time."

Kisara licked her ice cream, and then looked at him. "Do you want mine?" She asked innocently, too innocently

Yuuto looked back at her curiously. "You don't want it?"

Kisara smiled at him. "If you need more food, I don't mind sharing my ice cream."

Yuuto opened his eyes wide and smacked his forehead. "Wow... you sneaky little girl..."

Kisara burst into giggles. "You almost fell for it!" She cried in glee, crunching a bite out of her cone.

Yuuto blushed with embarrassment. "Oh... You..."

She giggled again. "I would seriously give you my ice cream, but I wasn't expecting you to fall for it."

Yuuto turned bright red. "I'm gullible... I know..."

Kisara reached up and ruffled his hair. "It's okay, that's why you have me to take care of you."

Yuuto chuckled. "Who's the older one here?"

Kisara stuck out her tongue, covered in bits of chocolate. "That's irrelevant to my point."

Yuuto poked her nose and smiled "You're a dork"

Kisara grinned. "I know. You love me anyway." She bit down on what remained of her cone, causing it to shatter in her hands. "Oh crap." She whined.

Yuuto smiled as sadness touched his eyes. "I'll buy you another tomorrow after we train." He looked up to see that the sun was setting.

Kisara ate the shattered bits off of her hands. "It's alright." She said, licking the last little bits of cream off her fingers. "It's getting close to dark, we probably should go home."

"Yeah, we probably should. We've got a lot of work to do tomorrow." Yuuto said before looking at Kisara.

She smiled up at him. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

Yuuto smiled softly and pulled her into a hug, not wanting to ever let go. "It's thanks to you. I don't know how I would've turned out if we hadn't met."

She squeaked softly, but then hugged him back. "Love you aniki."

He hugged her closer so she couldn't see his face and frowned slightly at her still seeing him as just a brother. "I love you too Imoto-chan" Then he thought to himself '_I can wait for you to love me like I do you_.'

She snuggled closer for a minute, then let go. "So, dawn training tomorrow? I'll try to not break any more of your weapons."

"Mmm... A little later than dawn. I'll need to grab some food to take with me." Yuuto said as he started walking to where they would have to part ways. "Let's meet at the training grounds."

Kisara nodded and smiled. "Mmkay. I'll see you tomorrow aniki! Make sure you bring stuff you don't mind breaking, just in case!"

Yuuto chuckled. "Oh you won't have to worry about that. Trust me." He smiled and stopped to look her over before they went home. She sure is amazing and beautiful. I don't know why didn't notice before today. He thought as he watched her.

She waved at him cheerfully as she started walking home. "See you tomorrow!"

Yuuto waved back happily as he headed home as well. "Yeah, you'd better get some rest." He added in.

"Don't worry. I will. You'd better do the same. Or else." She said half playfully as she turned and went around a corner.

Yuuto continued on his way and headed into his house. Lazily he laid his robe over the chair of his desk before removing his gear. After putting everything away he flopped onto his bed and lay there on his back and let his mind fill up with thoughts of kisara and his new feelings as he got drowsy and drifted into unconsciousness.

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><p>Sorry it took so long to get this one up. The part of Kisara was written by Pheonix to Flame, i think we did a good job. Oh. The Mint ice cream bit... I share Yuuto's dislike of mint chocolate ice cream and the reason he forgot about Kisara having that kind of ice cream is because I myself forgot. lol so i just went with it. XD Please review.<p> 


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